Oak Ridge firefighters color-coding hydrants

Oak Ridge firefighters are trying to get all of the fire hydrants in the city covered with a fresh coat of paint — and color-coded.

Comment

By Beverly Majors/Staff

Oakridger - Oak Ridge, TN

By Beverly Majors/Staff

Posted Jun. 14, 2013 at 5:21 PM
Updated Jun 14, 2013 at 5:24 PM

By Beverly Majors/Staff

Posted Jun. 14, 2013 at 5:21 PM
Updated Jun 14, 2013 at 5:24 PM

Oak Ridge firefighters are trying to get all of the fire hydrants in the city covered with a fresh coat of paint — and color-coded.

Firefighters serviced and inspected all of the city’s hydrants last fall and have been waiting on the warmer weather to get them painted.

According to Assistant Chief Josh Waldo, the bright yellow paint makes it easy for the firefighters to locate the hydrants when responding to calls, and the accent color gives them an idea of how much water they can expect to get from the hydrant.

Chief Darryl Kerley said the painting code is set by the National Fire Protection Standard. He said the Standard generally puts the accent color on the fire hydrant dome, but the city of Oak Ridge paints the connection on the front.

He said the colors, red, orange, green and blue, depict the gallons of water per minute with red being the lowest at 0 to 500 gallons and blue being the highest with 1,500 or more gallons per minute. The codes are determined after the hydrant is flow tested, the chief said.